


Tell Me Why...Please

by RiverKnight



Series: Broken Dreamies [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 20:37:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21214718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiverKnight/pseuds/RiverKnight
Summary: Haechan sends a silent thank you for being able to successfully sneak out of the dorm without being caught and slips out the door.Within minutes he finds himself in front of the Dreamies dorm. Haechan pauses slightly before entering the code and opening the door. He knows that he will be questioned by Kun but doesn't care and just wants some affection for once. The smell of freshly cooked banchan makes Haechan's stomach growl and he winces in hunger; regretting his decision of running out during dinner."Hyung?"





	Tell Me Why...Please

**Author's Note:**

> So sorry for not posting in forever! Part two is up!

Arial is normal  
Italics are thoughts  
Itim is English

Haechan picks up his phone and looks at the time. Four seventeen shines brightly against his Michael Jackson background in the darkroom. Haechan turns his head towards Jaehyun. After sharing a room for several years, he knows that his roommate is hard to wake up so he doesn’t try too hard to keep quiet. He shuffles out of bed, pulls on a green hoodie that he was certain used to belong to someone else, barely manages to miss tripping over one of his hyungs plushies, and quietly closes the door. His sock covered feet make no sound as he makes his way toward the front door, remembering to avoid the second to last step on the stairs knowing how loudly the creaking will echo throughout the house. He's surprised to find no one in the kitchen. Sometimes his hyungs have late-night talks in there; ranging from Taeyong making sure everyone is emotionally stable to Yuta asking for conformation that WinWin is his soulmate. Haechan sends a silent thank you for being able to successfully sneak out of the dorm without being caught and slips out the door.

Within minutes he finds himself in front of the Dreamies dorm. Haechan pauses slightly before entering the code and opening the door. He knows that he will be questioned by Kun but doesn't care and just wants some affection for once. The smell of freshly cooked banchan makes Haechan's stomach growl and he winces in hunger; regretting his decision of running out during dinner. He takes off his shoes and places them in the already big pile, smiling when he can easily tell which shoe belongs to which member. 

Kun’s the unmistakably cleanest, his white shoes can stay that way for several months before they are inevitably ruined by a fellow Dream member, if not himself. Ten's large array of strictly all black shoes for his required and recreational dance practices. Renjun's shoes constantly change based on his current hair color; this time a faded red. Jaemin's colorful shoes supporting the lgbtq+ community he copied from Jeno. And Jeno's matching pair Jaemin copied. Chenle's Human Race Trail Adidas that most likely cost a third of their rent. And Jisung's classic black Nike’s. 

"Hyung is that you?" Kun calls out.

"It's me hyung," Kun says as he rounds the corner.

"Oh!" he says surprised. "Haechannie!"

"Hey hyung! Were you expecting someone else?" Haechan questions as Kun wraps him in a hug. 

"No aegi. Usually you younger ones like to sleep in. Have you eaten yet? Here, sit down."

Mother mode activated. Initiate stage one.

"What banchan do you want? I made kongnamul (seasoned bean sprouts), danmuji (pickled radish), eomuk bokkeum (fried fish cake), there should be some leftover seaweed from yesterday but I’m-"

"That all sounds great hyung!" He laughs.

Kun walks over to the table, managing to balance several bowls, and sets the banchan along with a small bowl of rice, in front of Haechan. 

“Eat up aegi,” he sits down next to him and hands him a pair of chopsticks.

Haechan eagerly starts eating. After a few minutes, he notices Kun staring at him and stops. “Hyung, aren’t you going to eat too?”

Kun shakes his head, “There will be plenty of more for me after everyone eats. You’re the one who needs to eat up. 

Stage two activated.

“Did the hyungs not give you enough to eat? Aigoo, you come to me whenever you’re hungry okay? It doesn’t matter if it’s late at night, I’ll make you something yummy.” 

Haechan leans into Kun’s touch when he ruffles his hair in affection. It feels so nice to be fussed over.

“Where are the others?” Haechan asks looking around for his brothers.

“They’re still asleep. The Dreamies had a long practice, and wanted to stay up to hear NCT Night Night.”

Haechan stilled. 

His members heard. His brothers heard. Kun heard. Everyone had heard.

“Now, would you like to tell me why you’re here at four forty-two in the morning when you should be asleep?"

Stage three activated.

Haechan puts down his chopsticks and they clink loudly against the plate. 

"I was hungry…" he tries to lie.

Kun catches on, "You would have asked Jaehyun to make you something. The real reason please Haechannie."

Haechan doesn't speak. He knows that Kun would never push him for answers and would give him all the time he needed. But he also knew that Kun wouldn't let him leave. 

"I…" he tries to get words out. "Can we move to the couch."

“Haechan-”

“Please…” he begs, head bowed.

After a long pause Kun responds, “Of course aegi, whatever makes you comfortable.”

He gently ushers Haechan to the couch and immediately pulls him into his loving embrace. Haechan nuzzles his head into Kun’s neck, breathing deeply. He didn’t want to do this, but not making eye contact would make this less embarrassing for him. 

“Hyung,” he pauses with unshed tears decorating his eyes, voice wavering at the sad thought that the voices may be right.

“I don’t feel loved anymore.”

~

Taeyong turns in bed for the twelfth time. Dinner’s events kept replaying in his head. He’d never seen Haechan get so upset, hell he’d never seen the kid anything but happy. Sure he could be a brat when he wanted to be, but it was mostly for the cameras. Haechan was pretty respectful towards his hyungs and only brought out his inner demon with the Dreamies. So it had been bothering Taeyong on why Haechan acted that way. He’ll never forget the broken look on his maknae’s face on the rooftop when he told him that he felt...unwanted? Teasing he understood. Rejection was pushing it. But he couldn’t understand how he felt that way. Taeyong worked incredibly hard to create a loving environment for his members; it took years for everyone to be fully comfortable with each other. But now one of his family told him that he felt unwanted...something that no one should ever feel. 

Something wasn’t right, Taeyong could feel it. The others may mock his ‘mother’ or his preferred version ‘leader’ sense, but it never failed him to this day. He sensed something when Jaemin injured his herniated disk and still regretted to this day when he told them they could keep practicing. He regretted letting Chenle and Jisung go alone to the store nearby to get some snacks late at night. If he and Kun hadn’t left the company earlier, that might have been the last time they saw the youngest two. He regretted yelling at Renjun for not being responsible enough to manage only five other people, causing Renjun to leave. He would never forget when Mark called late at night to tell him that Renjun showed up to their door shivering from the rain and had passed out. He regretted getting so caught up in an important phone call with their manager that Jeno had to push him out of the way of falling boxes from a nearby truck who didn’t secure its contents properly. Jeno had ended up underneath the rubble with a concussion. For every scenario, Taeyong felt his ‘leader’ sense go off and chose to ignore it, and every time one of his Dreamies was hurt. Not today.

Taeyong reaches under his pillow and checks the time. Four-thirty-seven. Everyone should be asleep by now. Carefully he steps out of bed and makes his way to the door, but fails to miss the edge of his dresser. Taeyong curses and grabs his ankle in pain.

“Yongie?” Johnny slurs, jolted awake by Taeyong’s inability to keep quiet.

“Sorry I woke you up. I’m just going to check on Haechan.”

“It’s okay. Needed to use the bathroom anyway..” he mutters wiping his eyes harshly.

The two exit the room. Johnny hitting his broad shoulder on the doorframe, still too asleep to manage his large body.

Taeyong stops at Jaehyun and Haechan’s shared room. He hopes that his sense is wrong and he can be mad at himself for getting up for no reason. But when Taeyong opens the door to find one empty bed he instantly panics. He flips on the light and rushes over to Jaehyun. 

“Jaehyun!” he shakes him awake.

“Hyung!” Jaehyun says annoyed at being so rudely woken up.

“Where’s Haechan?” Taeyong’s worry increasing every moment he doesn’t know the answer.

“He’s gone?!” Jaehyun asks, wide awake.

“F*ck,” Taeyong says.

He rushes out of the room, ignoring Jaehyun’s cry of wait.

He impatiently throws open every door in the house, not caring if he wakes up his members. It takes Johnny’s hand coming down on his shoulder to bring him back to reality. The reality that Haechan was missing or worse… He looked so broken on the rooftop, he wouldn’t have… No! He wouldn’t have jumped off. It wasn’t possible. Haechan would never.

“Taeyong! You need to calm down, we’re going to find him. Whatever you’re thinking, stop. Everything is going to be alright. Trust me hyung," Johnny states while maintaining eye contact. "He couldn't have gotten far. I told everyone else what happened, we're going to find him, okay."

"Okay," Taeyong repeats.

"Good. Yuta, Jungwoo, and Taeil hyung are going to check his favorite places. Doyoung and Mark are searching every room in this building. Jaehyun is staying here, just in case he decides to come back. And you and I are going to the Dream dorm to look for him there."

Taeyong grabs Johnny’s hand, not wanting to waste any time, and the two run towards the dorm, eager to find their precious makane.

~

"Haechannie, hyung needs you to breathe, okay? Here, follow me," Kun breathes in deeply, making sure to keep a slow pace.

Haechan copies his hyungs movements and finds himself calming down. 

"There we go, you're doing great aegi. Let's do it again, okay?" 

He follows once more and slumps tiredly against his hyungs muscled chest.

"There you go. You're okay aegi," Kun says while massaging Haechan's hair. He's so worried but doesn't want to show it, "Hyung's so proud of you."

Haechan doesn't respond, tears still making their way down his cheeks, and breath still short. He never wants to leave his hyungs safe embrace.

"I promise you Haechan, you will not be treated like that again," Kun's voice states fervently.

Haechan so moved by the hardness in his hyungs voice (something he had never heard before) had no choice but to believe him.

"KUN!" his name is shouted by two individuals.

The suddenness startles the two on the couch and Haechan flinches into Kun and his arms protectively hug the makane harder. Kun whips his head towards the front door, angry at the intruders for making so much noise when his children were trying to sleep. 

"HAECHAN'S RUNAWA-" the voice abruptly cuts off. To his surprise, he sees Taeyong and Johnny straight out of bed with their pajamas on and anxious faces.

Taeyong's going to cry. He had found his makane, or rather Kun had found him, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that Haechan would be back in his arms, safe and sound. They would need to talk later, but that could wait. 

"Haechan!" Taeyong rushes forward to take him but his heart shatters when Haechan moves away.

He can hear him mutter over and over again into Kun's chest, "Don't want to go."

Kun glares at the two for riling Haechan up again, when he had just gotten him to calm down and nods towards the kitchen. Taeyong opens his mouth to protest, but Johnny ushers him away.

“It’s okay aegi, don’t forget to breathe okay?” Kun gently reminds him. 

“Ge?” a small voice calls out.

Sh*t Kun thinks to himself, a habit to cuss in his mind and not in front of his kids.

“Go back to sleep didi. You have a busy day today, so you need to sleep in for a bit longer,” Kun says to Renjun.

Ignoring his ge’s words, “What’s wrong? Why is Haechan crying?”

Haechan looks up at the sound of his fellow 00 liner's voice. When Renjun sees the tears and distressed look on his friend’s face, he wastes no time in kneeling beside the two on the couch. He pets Haechan's hair and hugs him firmly.

"Haechan, is it okay if hyung goes over to talk to the others in the kitchen?" Kun asks.

Haechan makes a distressed whine.

"Aw, aegi don't be like that. Renjunnie is here with you. I'll be right back, and then we can sleep in and cuddle all day, okay?" Kun promises despite knowing the company will disapprove.

"Okay," his says quietly, voice still raspy from crying.

Kun leaves the two on the couch, placing a blanket over them. When he reaches the kitchen he sees Taeyong anxiously walking back and forth. Johnny sits stoically at the island, head cupped in his hands, face strewn with frustration. 

"Kun! How is he! Is he hurt?" Taeyong questions hurriedly.

Kun doesn't want to reveal his emotions with the two of them, but is unable to keep the frustration off his face.

“Physically he’s fine,” he says.

“Thank God,” Taeyong sighs with relief, and moves to walk into the living room, but Kun grabs his arm, preventing him.

“Wha-”

“Haechan doesn’t want to see you- any of you right now.” Kun states firmly.

"Why?"

"Hyung, how would you like it if you were constantly ignored, refused skinship, and having someone chosen over you?" He turns toward Johnny, "I heard what you said on NCT Night Night hyung. I think that's what pushed him over the edge…"

Taeyong slumps down in the nearest chair, "We all laughed because we knew they were joking...but...aigoo what are we going to do…"

"You aren't going to do anything except for calling the company and telling them that Haechan has a break all day-"

"The comebacks too close-"

"I wasn't done yet."

"Haechan is staying here with me all day. Maybe later he'll want to see you and then you can apologize properly. Until then please leave."

Johnny gets up, "Kun let us explain-"

"Hyung I said leave," Kun cuts him off, not leaving any room for discussion.

The two nod and sullenly make their way to the door. Johnny turns back around, "Would you tell Haechan that I'm sorry?"

"You should tell him yourself later hyung. He needs to hear it from you."

The door shuts and Kun rushes back to the living room, his heart melts at the sight of his kids cuddling.

“How is he,” Kun asks Renjun.

“Tired; he stopped crying though. I hope he feels better when he wakes up.”

Kun gently wipes the dried tears off of Haechan’s face, being careful not to disturb him. He then picks up the boy and brings him to his room. Renjun follows silently behind and Kun is thankful for that. He doesn’t want to explain without Haechan’s permission, and judging by how unwilling he was to share, he figured Haechan would want to tell his brothers himself.

“Renjunnie go to sleep okay.”

“Okay ge.”

Kun shoots him a thankful smile and watches the boy return to his room. Kun manages to open the door and puts Haechan on his bed and wraps him in a blanket.

A small tug on his sleeve makes him look up. Haechan sleepily asks, “Can you stay with me?”

Kun smiles, “Of course I can aegi.” He crawls into bed and hugs him. “Go to sleep, you’re okay now.”

Haechan listens to the steady heartbeat of his hyung and thinks to himself "I’d forgotten what this was like. It feels so nice...to be loved..."


End file.
